Dental Health Topics

Band Instruments and Your Teeth

Learning a musical instrument enhances cognition, trains focus, and helps channel adolescent energy. There’s also the added benefit of a built-in social network of kids working to bring alive once again the musical works of the masters.

Despite all that good stuff, though, some instruments might pose a hazard to the integrity of your child’s teeth, mouth, and jaw – and even their overall health. For most parents, this isn’t top of mind when considering or fostering the learning of a musical instrument.

Let’s take a look at what should be on your radar.

Bacteria

We’re all pretty good at annihilating the bacterial nasties that crop up around our children at home, but how good are you at cleaning their spit-collecting musical machine?

Be sure instruments are cleaned regularly, and cleaned well. Doing so can help your child stay healthy, while also ensuring the instrument will perform at its best.

Here’s a very comprehensive grouping of instructions to help you clean both wind and brass instruments. Print ‘em out and hang ‘em on the fridge!

Lip and Tooth Trauma

Playing a wind or brass instrument requires the player to forcefully hold their instrument against or within the lips to produce a sound. This pressure can present problems for delicate lip tissue and growing teeth.

Soft acrylic guards can be purchased to offset some of this pressure, and are commonly used for children wearing braces. Ask your dentist for suggestions.

Additionally, children prone to cold sores can suffer more frequent outbreaks due to playing an instrument. You’ll see this cause and effect play out by noticing where your child tends to get sores.

Woodwind players tend to have outbreaks on the lower lip, and brass instrument players on the upper lip. Woodwind players also experience outbreaks at a rate twice that of non-musicians.

Head and Neck Trauma

A stringed instrument might seem like the most benign choice when picking an instrument for your child. After all, there’s no contact with the lips or teeth, and there’s no bacteria to worry about.

That is until you realize the position one must get in to play these instruments.

Holding a violin or viola all day might not be the best thing in the world for one’s face, neck and chin. Good playing posture, and reduced playing time is the best preventative medicine if your kids play these two instruments.

It’s also worth noting that because of this awkward playing position, violas, and violins can contribute to, and even exacerbate, cross-bites and overbites.

Consult with your dentist and music teacher for the best advice specific to your child. Which brings us to …

Choosing the right instrument

Before your child even picks up an instrument, consult with a music teacher familiar with how a player relates to that instrument. A well-informed, passionate band director will know which instruments fit which children best based on their size and weight, teeth structure, finger and hand strength, etc.